Makerere rigs polls
Makerere University Students Guild Electoral Commission yesterday nullified the election results for Livingstone Hall over rigging and violence
By Arthur Baguma and Pidson Kareire
Makerere University Students Guild Electoral Commission yesterday nullified the election results for Livingstone Hall over rigging and violence.
But the commission declared a Uganda Youth Democrat (UYD) activist Ronald Mukasa Ssenkubuge winner.
In Livingstone hall one candidate purportedly received 739 votes when the registered voters were only 693. In a statement, the commission cited 24 reasons why the Livingstone results were nullified.
While counting Waigumbulizi’s votes, the battery of the lamp fell down and was removed by students who disappeared with it. Some other students tore the paper where the chairman had tallied and the speaker of Livingstone Hall refused the agents of any candidates to stand behind him to see what was going on.
The agents said they were chased and threatened at the Hall. The Guild electoral commission chairman, Julius Ojok, said the polls were free and fair apart from Livingstone Hall where fake ballot papers were stuffed in the box by some students. He said according to 11 polling stations, Mukasa was the winner.
“We regret the fact that no single vote from Livingstone Hall has been considered and that could have denied the genuine voters their rights. We therefore state that any grievances should be lodged with the electoral tribunal as per the Guild Constitution and we hereby declare Ronald Mukasa Ssenkubuge the guild president,†Ojok said.
Mukasa, 22, a second year student of Bachelor of Statistics from Nkrumah Hall got 1,410. his closest rival, Samuel Opio Acuti of Lumumba Hall, polled 1,071 votes.
Donald Waigumburizi of Livingstone Hall ranked third with 727 votes followed by Ibrahim Muwaya also of Livingstone Hall with 489 votes.
Makerere University Students Guild Electoral Commission yesterday nullified the election results for Livingstone Hall over rigging and violence.
But the commission declared a Uganda Youth Democrat (UYD) activist Ronald Mukasa Ssenkubuge winner.
In Livingstone hall one candidate purportedly received 739 votes when the registered voters were only 693. In a statement, the commission cited 24 reasons why the Livingstone results were nullified.
While counting Waigumbulizi’s votes, the battery of the lamp fell down and was removed by students who disappeared with it. Some other students tore the paper where the chairman had tallied and the speaker of Livingstone Hall refused the agents of any candidates to stand behind him to see what was going on.
The agents said they were chased and threatened at the Hall. The Guild electoral commission chairman, Julius Ojok, said the polls were free and fair apart from Livingstone Hall where fake ballot papers were stuffed in the box by some students. He said according to 11 polling stations, Mukasa was the winner.
“We regret the fact that no single vote from Livingstone Hall has been considered and that could have denied the genuine voters their rights. We therefore state that any grievances should be lodged with the electoral tribunal as per the Guild Constitution and we hereby declare Ronald Mukasa Ssenkubuge the guild president,†Ojok said.
Mukasa, 22, a second year student of Bachelor of Statistics from Nkrumah Hall got 1,410. his closest rival, Samuel Opio Acuti of Lumumba Hall, polled 1,071 votes.
Donald Waigumburizi of Livingstone Hall ranked third with 727 votes followed by Ibrahim Muwaya also of Livingstone Hall with 489 votes.